“The Unexpected Guest” by Agatha Christie

A MainStage Full Production

Co-Directed by Brittany Gardner-Kennel and Kyle Hutslar, with

Lisa Blodgett, Rachel Berryman, Niall Garvin, Buffy Gerndt, Tate Gerndt, Stacie Jensen, Jamie Lake, Brad Mazick, and Shane Miller.

At Acting Ensemble on the Avenue

602 E. Mishawaka Avenue in Mishawaka

October 3, 4, 8, 10, and 11 at 7:30 pm

October 5 and 12 at 2:00 pm

The Story:  Lost in the fog, a stranger seeks refuge in a nearby house, only to find a man shot dead and his wife standing over him with a smoking gun. But the woman’s dazed confession is anything but convincing, and the unexpected guest decides to help. Remarkably, the police clues point to a man who died two years previously, but as the ghosts of a past wrong begin to emerge, a tangled web of lies reveals family secrets and chilling motives, where the real murderer turns out to be the greatest mystery of all.

Get advance tickets here

“There is an ingenious display of suspects, as if lids were being taken off wells of depravity and hastily put back.” – Lawrence Kitchin, The Observer 

“The impact is tremendous […] Just when the murder seems solved […] Miss Christie pulls her almighty knock out punch. I admit her complete victory.” – London Evening Standard

“It kept last night’s audience in a state of stunned uncertainty; guessing wrongly to the last.” – Philip Hope-Wallace, The Guardian

 

Agatha Christie is known throughout the world as the Queen of Crime. Her books have sold over a billion copies in English with another billion in foreign languages. She is the most widely published author of all time and, in many languages, outsold only by the Bible and Shakespeare. She is the author of 66 crime novels, 150 short stories, over 20 plays, and six novels written under the name Mary Westmacott. Her work includes Murder on the Orient Express, Death on the Nile, and the genre-defining And Then There Were None.

Agatha Christie’s first novel, The Mysterious Affair at Styles, was written towards the end of the First World War, in which she served in the VAD. In it she created Hercule Poirot, the little Belgian detective who was destined to become the most popular detective in crime fiction since Sherlock Holmes. It was published by Bodley Head in 1920.

In 1926, after averaging a book a year, Agatha Christie wrote her first masterpiece. The  Murder of Roger Ackroyd was the first of her books to be published by Collins and marked the beginning of an author-publisher relationship that lasted for 50 years and well over 70 books. Ackroyd was also the first of Agatha Christie’s books to be dramatized – under the title Alibi – and to have a successful run in London’s West End.

By 1930, Agatha had introduced a new character to act as detective. When she created Miss Marple, Agatha did not expect her to become Poirot’s rival, but with The Murder at the Vicarage, Miss Marple’s first full-length outing, it appeared she had produced another popular and enduring character.

The Mousetrap, her most successful play of all, opened in 1952 and is the longest-running play in history.

Agatha Christie was made a dame in 1971. She died in 1976.

Agatha Christie Limited (ACL) has been managing the literary and media rights to Agatha Christie’s works around the world since 1955, working with the best talents in film, television, publishing, stage and on digital platforms to ensure that Christie’s work continues to reach new audiences in innovative ways and to the highest standard. The company is managed by Christie’s great grandson James Prichard.

Visit www.agathachristie.com for more information.

Advance tickets are recommended – Get yours here!

  

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  • Activities at the Acting Ensemble made possible, in part, with support from the Community Foundation of St. Joseph County's ArtsEverywhere initiative, The Indiana Arts Commission, which receives support from the State of Indiana and the National Endowment for the Arts, and The Harvey R. and Doris Klockow Foundation.